Epistemology
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Epistemology

 
Seanna Takacs
 

The field of epistemology is concerned with the origins, nature and construction of knowledge and explores the ways by which knowledge claims are valued and justified. Epistemological inquiry differentiates between knowledge and belief. To believe something is to think that it is true. However, one may be wrong in their beliefs; for something to count as knowledge, we must know it to be true, having had sufficient ‘proof' that its existence is real. For example, Phil may think that the bridge is safe but until he attempts to cross the bridge and finds that the bridge collapses under his weight, he cannot know how safe the bridge is. That is, Phil did not know the bridge was safe until he experienced otherwise. Thus, he only had a belief about the bridge which cannot qualify as knowledge until experience demonstrates or supports the belief claim.

A priori knowledge is knowledge gained or justified by reason alone, outside of the direct influence of experience. A posteriori knowledge is knowledge which refers to experience i.e.) empirical knowledge. The fundamental question is whether there is such a thing as a priori knowledge; rationalists would argue that there is and empiricists would argue that there is not. The question then becomes how we might justify our beliefs. How do we move from believing something to knowing something? Empiricists claim that knowledge is a product of human experience. More specifically, naive empiricism asserts that ideas and theories need to be tested against reality to see how they correspond to observed facts. This position is closely associated with a positivist stance from which quantitative methods are generated.

All research, whether qualitative or quantitative is about knowledge. It is a process of inquiry and investigation that is systematic and methodical that attempts to increase knowledge. However, where quantitative methods attempt to prove or create knowledge, qualitative methods attempt to describe relationships, illustrate connections, observe phenomena that hang together and demarcate webs of influence. The point of qualitative methods is not to prove or justify beliefs in order to transform them into knowledge; they are not concerned with ‘knowing' per se but rather in surveying belief systems. Qualitative methods are concerned not with the movement between belief and knowledge but rather with the belief systems themselves. No research can be free of cultural context; what we know and how we know is a function of the society in which we live. Any epistemological standpoint in qualitative analysis must admit that we can never establish a ‘capital T truth' since truth is an artifact of cultural function, language, interpretation, custom and historical tradition. If we are not concerned with universal truths, our epistemological concerns become relative in nature; we no longer must figure out how to justify beliefs but instead must study the beliefs for what they reveal about cultural assumptions and artifacts.

 

   
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